The one guide you'll need to know about the openings coming your way in the week ahead. This week, we're very much in the summer slow season, but if you like soft-serve (and who doesn't), you're in luck.
Whippies
Covent Garden - Top Floor, Seven Dials Market, Earlham Street, London WC2H 9LX
This is the new spin-off from Whippies, makers of some of London's very best ice cream. This time, it's all about soft serve made with their own organic milk, brown butter and real Madagascan vanilla ice cream. There will be 99s (with flakes they make themselves), banana splits, hot fudge sundaes and more. In a week where it's about to get very hot again, this may come in very handy.
Opening date: 8 August 2026
Here's what opened last week
Sourdough Sophia (Covent Garden) - The popular bakery goes central for the first time.
Wagyu Yakiniku USHIO (Fitzrovia) - A Japanese restaurant that's all about wagyu
Cup of Joy (Marylebone) - A cafe that's popular in Istanbul, this is their first London opening.
Uchi Bake (Islington) - Japanese cafe that is also a hit in Clapton.
Closing
10 Greek Street (Soho) - This is the final week to try the Soho restaurant, which is bringing back signature dishes before they close the doors, after 14 years in business.
This week's events
4 August (Notting Hill) - The Barbary launches its Kitchen Counter wine dinner series with a one-night collaboration with Champagne house Billecart-Salmon. Expect a five-course tasting menu paired with a selection of cuvées, from Brut Réserve to vintage Champagnes, with just 15 seats available. Tickets are £150, including the full wine pairing.
5 August (and 2 September) (King's Cross) - Hoppers is bringing back its Dosa Deep House terrace sessions, pairing sunset DJ sets from emerging South Asian artists with dosas, Sri Lankan curries and signature cocktails. The evenings coincide with the return of Hoppers' limited-edition Kalupol Chicken Bun, with £2 from every sale donated to Feeding the Future.
6 August (Fitzrovia) - LIMA hosts a one-night four-hands dinner as head chef Diego Recarte teams up with former Mirazur R&D chef Milton Fragozo. Expect a seven-course menu featuring dishes such as beef and oyster tartare, warm crab salad and beef short rib, with a Pisco Sour on arrival. Tickets are £90. Book by emailing Enquiry@limalondon.com or calling 020 3002 2640.
7 August (Covent Garden) - Guinness Open Gate Brewery London is marking International Beer Day by giving away 100 free pints from midday at Old Brewer's Yard, with a choice of Guinness, Guinness 0.0 or one of its craft beers.
8-9 August (Canada Water) - KERB Goes East comes to Canada Water's Round The Dock event with a free weekend celebrating East and Southeast Asian street food. Expect more than 50 traders serving everything from Sichuan noodles and Korean tacos to bao buns, bánh mì and Filipino barbecue, alongside live music, lion dancing, taiko drumming and an East Asian makers market.
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